
Class 
Book. 



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CQRiRIGIfr DEPOSIT. 



WHY DO THE 
GOOD SUFFER? 

A MEDITATION SUGGESTED BY 
THE BOOK OF JOB 



BY 
VINCENT RAVI-BOOTH, M.A., D.D. 

Minister of the First Congregational Church of 
Old Bennington, Vermont 




ARTIetViERnxri; 



BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, 1920, by Vincent Ravi-Booth 



All Rights Reserved 



vv^ 



"^"^v 



Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



££C 23 IS2D 



These pages are dedicated to the memory of a 
lovely little girl, sixteen years of age when she went 
hence, stricken with a terrible and mysterious 
disease, the only case, save one, in the medical 
annals of the state of Massachusetts. 



''For the thing which I feat cometh upon me, 
And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me. 
I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have 

1 rest; 
But trouble cometh/^ Job ^ '2 5-26. 

^'For he hreaketh me with a tempest, 
And multiplieth my wounds without cause. 
He will not suffer me to take my breath. 
But filleth me with bitterness J' Job g:i7, 18, 



WHY DO THE GOOD SUFFER? 



WHY DO THE GOOD SUFFER? 



The maladjustment between character and cir- 
cumstance did not escape the early religious 
teachers of Israel. Repeatedly throughout the 
Old Testament, but especially in the book of 
Psalms, the question is raised, "Why do the good 
suffer?" and mighty efforts are put forth to 
answer it.^ 

However, the book of Job is the most elab- 
orate attempt in the Scriptures to find the final 
answer to this question. 

The book consists of forty-two chapters. Very 
few people take the trouble to read them through. 
Let us frankly admit that they are tedious for the 
most part. There is endless repetition, and in- 
conclusive argument, but out of the mass of 
words and strange twists of oriental reasoning 

*Prov. 23:17-18; Ps. 37:1-2; Ps. 73:3-5; Ps. 73:17-18. 

9 



lO Why Do the Good Suffer? 

the earnest student may rescue many priceless 
gems of satisfying truth. 

Why do the good suffer? 

(i) They suffer, replies the unknown author 
of this sacred drama, in order that their honesty, 
sincerity, disinterestedness may be established be- 
yond question. 

In the prologue Satan is represented as coming 
into the presence of Jehovah ^'from going to and 
fro in the earth, and from walking up and down 
in it." 2 

And Jehovah inquires of Satan if he has taken 
notice of the integrity of his servant Job, *'one 
that feareth God, and turneth away from evil." 

Satan replies that he has; but then, with a 
sneer, asks a question overflowing with vile in- 
sinuation: 

"Doth Job fear God for nought?" ^ 

The unmistakable inference is that he serves 
God because it pays. With the Almighty as a 
silent partner. Job has succeeded in accumulating 
a vast fortune, in estabhshing a great family, in 

'Job 1:7. 
'Job 1:9. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? ii 

entrenching himself in power. Who would not 
serve Jehovah to get all this? But let the Lord 
strip Job of all he has, let him leave his ob- 
sequious servant a broken and despised creature, 
and then it will become evident why Job renders 
lip praise to his God in the days of his prosperity. 

God knows that Satan is merely expressing his 
Satanic personality in these dark insinuations. 
But the heavenly court, and mortal man, and the 
black creatures who dwell in darkness, lacking 
omniscience, do not know how deep the roots of 
righteousness have penetrated the being of Job. 
Job himself is not aware of the strength of his 
will and purpose, nor does he suspect how inex- 
haustible and how tender are the consolations of 
God. Therefore Jehovah permits Satan to work 
his will on the Hebrew patriarch. And when this 
man, who has always feared God and turned 
away from evil, disfigured and tormented by 
disease, is abandoned on an ash heap outside the 
city wall, Jehovah's confidence in him is vindi- 
cated. Far from heeding his wife's advice, 

"Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? curse 
God and die," * 

*Job 2:9. 



12 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

we hear him, amidst his sobs, restating the funda- 
mentals of his faith: 

*What, shall we receive good at the hands of 
God, and shall we not receive evil?" ^ 

''Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and 
naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and 
the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name 
of the Lord 1" 6 

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust him I" "^ 

Yes, there Is such a thing as disinterested good- 
ness; there are folks, — not many, but still a con- 
siderable number, — who will serve God even If It 
does not pay! 

(2) Why do the good suffer? 

In order that the sediment of sin in their souls 
may be consumed as with fire, answers the book 
of Job.8 

It is one thing to be good. It is another to be 
perfect. Even In good men there Is a deposit of 
evil, — a little pride, or arrogance, or vanity, or 

"Job 2:10. 
"Job 1:21. 
'Job 13:15. 

^Job 5:17-18; 10:4-7; 11:13-14; 13:23; 22:4; 23:10; 23:1-28; 
33:23-28; 34:15-16. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 13 

selfishness; a little jealousy, or avarice, or cruelty, 
or passionate desire. Therefore we hear the 
Psalmist pray: 

'Who can discern his errors? 

Cleanse thou me from secret faults. 

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous 

sins ; 
Let them not have dominion over me : 
Then shall I be upright, 
And I shall be clear from great trangression.'' ^ 

Good men are keenly conscious of their short- 
comings. They are aware of the glorious good- 
ness of God, hence their defects of character take 
on hideous proportions by comparison with the 
divine effulgence. Listen to Isaiah as he humbles 
himself in the presence of the Lord seated upon a 
throne, high and lifted up : 

"Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a 
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of 
a people of unclean lips : for mine eyes have seen 
the King, Jehovah of hosts." ^^ 

Listen to Paul, 

'Ps. 19:12-13. 
"Isa. 6:5. 



14 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

''O wretched man that I am I who shall deliver 
me out of the body of this death?" ^^ 

And this sediment of sin deflects the arrow of 
the good man's purpose from the ideal goal even 
as the iron in a ship deflects the needle in the com- 
pass, compelling the mariner to make corrections 
in his calculations. 

Now, in order that the good man may pass 
from goodness to perfection, God leads him 
through the hot fires of adversity, that the purify- 
ing flame may destroy the last remnant of sin, 
leaving behind the pure gold of character to shine 
on for ever. 

(3) Why do the good suffer? 

In order that the moral law may be exalted and 
firmly established in the reckoning of man, is the 
third answer of the book of Job.^^ 

If one grants that there is a sediment of sin 
in the good, it follows that even good men at- 
tempt to violate the laws of God. This is a pretty 
good definition of sin, the attempt to violate the 
moral law. We carelessly say that sin is the 
violation of the moral law. But no one has ever 

"Rom. 7:24. 

"Job 4:8-10; 6:4; 9:1-4; 22:21-30. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 15 

successfully violated any of God's laws, whether 
natural or spiritual. The Titanic attempted to 
steam through a field of ice, and straightway went 
to the bottom with its priceless cargo. The sin- 
ner attempts to ignore the Divine Will, and 
straightway comes to grief. 

"Be not deceived; God Is not mocked: for 
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
reap/' ^^ 

And God can not ignore the sin of the good 
man, any more than He can ignore the sin of the 
sinner, without stultifying Himself. Natural and 
spiritual law is sacred because it Is the expression 
of the Creator's character. Therefore the good 
man, even as the bad man, damages himself in 
proportion to the impetus with which he collides 
with the Divine Nature. A good father punishes 
his boy when disobedient, not because he considers 
him depraved (the father would be the first one 
to resent the imputation) but that the child may 
from the very beginning realize that the moral 
law is Inexorable and supreme. 

Here and there in the book of Job there are 

"Gal. 6:7. 



1 6 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

hints to the effect that when the good man sins 
he should be punished even more severely than 
the wicked; for having made professions of 
allegiance to the Divine Will, through his fault 
the moral law is brought Into contempt. 

"He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, 
And with continual strife in his bones; 
So that his life abhorreth bread, 
And his soul dainty food." ^* 

These then are the three reasons advanced by 
the author of the book of Job In explanation of 
the suffering of the good. They suffer in order 
that their honesty, sincerity, disinterestedness 
may be established beyond question; they suffer 
that they may pass from goodness to perfection; 
they suffer in order that the inviolability and 
sacredness of the divine law, which is the expres- 
sion of the Divine Nature, may be made manifest. 

"Job 33:20. 



II 



And yet the argument is incomplete. When 
the last word of the book of Job is reached the 
aching void in the inquirer's heart is not filled. 
We must look elsewhere for a truer answer, we 
must search deeper. 

Why do the good suffer? 

Because man is finite in knowledge, hence he 
learns through experience. We are moving out 
of darkness into light, paying as we go. And 
the price has been, and is, frightful ! 

If the reader of these pages should turn to Sir 
Hugh Clifford's fascinating book, *'The Further 
Side of Silence," ^ he would gain a tolerably fair 
idea of the progress achieved by the race to which 
he belongs. Who can estimate the distance 
separating us from the naked brown men of the 
Malay Peninsula, dwelling in the forest, swinging 
from branch to branch like their first cousins, the 

'"The Further Side of Silence," by Sir Hugh Clifford, Double- 
day, Page & Co., 1917. 

17 



1 8 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

apes, sleeping in the ashes of their camp fires, 
the pitiful victims of superstitious fears awakened 
by the moaning of the wind and the howling of 
the man-eating tiger I 

There was a time, hundreds of thousands of 
years in the dim past, when the human beings 
from whom we have sprung resembled these tree 
dwellers. And the reason we are not swinging 
like them from branch to branch, but are living 
a complex civilized life in which the school, the 
hospital, the library, the printing press, steam and 
electricity, not to mention the church, loom so 
large, is that countless generations preceding us 
have explored the mysterious and thorny path of 
life, leaving behind for our guidance priceless ex- 
periences recorded in crimson characters. 

At inestimable cost man has become acquainted 
with the laws which safeguard life when obeyed, 
and destroy it when discarded. There was a 
time when man in the presence of disease was as 
helpless as a three-hour babe confronted by a 
raging bull. He knew nothing of bacteria. Infec- 
tion, contagion. He saw his child well to-day and 
dead to-morrow. No wonder that he succumbed 
to the fear of evil spirits populating the forest, 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 19 

or even animating beasts, reptiles and stones I If 
only he had possessed the modern piercing eye, 
which we call the microscope, he would have dis- 
covered the existence of an invisible microcosm 
full of devils to which we give the names of 
germs, bacteria, and microbes! 

No longer in a civilized community do we fear 
cholera, bubonic plague, diphtheria, typhoid and 
yellow fever. Even tuberculosis can be con- 
quered, if taken in time. Thus one of the great 
causes of human suffering, disease and premature 
death, is being eliminated. The discovery of 
ether as an anaesthetic, of bacteria, of antisepsis 
and asepsis, of X-ray, have made modern surgery 
possible. And modern surgery Is robbing the 
grave of many of its intended victims. 

We learn through experience. Being finite in 
everything, we can not know the end from the 
beginning. We must take one step at a time. 
And frequently we step in the wrong direction. 

Some good men are very foolish. In moments 
of carelessness they do things which end in dis- 
aster. 

Here Is a devoted father, very much absorbed 
in the problems of his profession. His mind is 



20 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

far away as he slams the door of his automobile, 
and incidentally cuts off two fingers from his little 
daughter's hand. A year passes. Once more in 
an absent-minded spell this affectionate father 
slams the door of his automobile. This time three 
fingers come off the baby's hand. Will any one 
venture to suggest that somehow the Father in 
heaven should have forestalled the action of the 
good but careless parent on earth? 

Here is a very good man driving his automo- 
bile. He becomes aware that his gasolene is 
almost spent. He stops at the nearest garage to 
secure a fresh supply. It is night, therefore he 
can not see how nearly full his tank is. Instead 
of feeling with his fingers, he strikes a match, 
holds it over the mouth of the tank, and peers in. 
There is a violent explosion. Both the automo- 
bile and the holder of the match are blown across 
the road; and, worse yet, the innocent garage 
proprietor is enveloped in a sheet of flame. 

What else could happen? When a match is 
held over the fumes of gasolene it must explode, 
or it ceases to be gasolene. The character and 
record of the holder of the match can not be 
taken into consideration. Should the Creator 



Why Do the Good Suferf 21 

make exceptions in favor of good men who for 
the moment, in Dante's words, have lost. 

". . . il ben deirintelletto'' 

the boon of reason, His universe would collapse 
in confusion. 

These are some of the foolish things which 
good men do in moments of mental aberration, 
to their sorrow and regret. 

But then good men are led into error under 
the most perplexing and baffling circumstances. 
If only they .could see the end from the beginning, 
how differently would they plan and act ! 

They have taken counsel of their wisest friends 
before embarking on a momentous undertaking, 
they have lifted their plans upon the wings of 
prayer to the Throne of Grace, only to find when 
irrevocably committed to the enterprise that they 
are moving in a blind alley, yes, that they are 
confronted by a stone wall. And then in humilia- 
tion these good people have no choice but to 
retrace their steps, and start afresh oppressed by 
the consciousness of failure. 

And it is seldom that one may use to advantage 
the experience acquired at frightful cost, simply 



22 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

because the identical combination of circumstances 
never returns. At this point we are face to face 
with one of the chief arguments for immortality. 
Surely sometime, somewhere, the good Heavenly 
Father will give us an opportunity to invest in a 
glorious enterprise, which shall know no failure, 
the experience for which we have paid with 
bloody sweat and with groanings that can not be 
uttered I 



Ill 



But we must search deeper for the most satis- 
fying answer to the question, Why do the good 
suffer? 

Not in the book of Job, but in the writings of 
the Great Unknown prophet of the Babylonian 
exile; or, better still, in the sayings of Jesus of 
Nazareth,' is found the clearest answer to this 
momentous question. Since the book of Job was 
written searchers after God have discovered that 
life is vicarious. 

Vicarious means to change places, to act or 
suffer for another, to endure the consequences of 
an action or situation for which the victim is not 
responsible. 

And life is vicarious, both negatively and posi- 
tively. 

Negatively, since multitudes are the unwilling 
and protesting victims of the sins and blunders of 
others. With them it is not a matter of choice, — 
they simply can not help themselves, for they 

23 



24 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

stand directly across the path of the wicked or of 
fools as they sweep on to destruction. Illustra- 
tions abound. 

Here is a little child suffering from a frightful 
nervous disorder : here is another threatened with 
blindness: here is a boy, dull and stupid, who 
looks out upon the world with the vacant stare 
of the cow in the fields. Why all this misery? 
Surely these little ones have not sinned so griev- 
ously as to deserve such punishment ! 

The answer is not far to seek. They are suffer- 
ing vicariously. Their fathers, or grandfathers, 
or great-grandfathers before them have been 
great sinners, setting at nought the command- 
ments of God. The terrible law of heredity 
which, like an angel with flaming sword, stands 
watch over the human race, stamping out what- 
ever makes for degeneracy and death, and en- 
couraging whatever makes for strength and life, 
— is clearly set forth in one of the ten words of 
Moses: 

"Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the 
children, unto the third and fourth generation of 
them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 25 

thousands of them that love Me and keep My 
commandments.'' ^ 

Here Is a middle-aged woman in a humble 
home. She must rise before the break of day to 
attend to her children's needs. After doing a 
fair day's work, she must go out to earn her liv- 
ing sweeping, washing, scrubbing. But two frail 
hands can not earn enough to pay for the food, 
clothing, and shelter of a large family. Hence 
the oldest daughter must come out of the high 
school and go into the mill. Even then the com- 
bined efforts of mother and daughter are barely 
sufficient to secure the necessities, not to mention 
the luxuries which are part of the comfort and 
satisfaction of a cosy home. 

Why so much misery? Because the head of the 
family is dissipated. He has cultivated the taste 
for strong drink until now he is no longer the 
master of his soul. Much of the time he lies In 
a drunken stupor, and it is an open question 
whether he is not less trouble when Intoxicated 
than when sober, clamoring for more drink. 
Thus the Innocent suffer vicariously. 

'Exodus 20:5-6. 



26 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

This negative aspect of the vicariousness of life 
Is summed up in the words of Paul when he writes 
to the Romans: 

*'For none of us liveth to himself, and none 
dieth to himself." ^ 

Which means that our spirit and conduct affect 
for weal or for woe other lives. And this realiza- 
tion that our destinies are inextricably inter- 
twined, so that we stand or fall together, should 
hold us with an iron grip in the path of duty and 
of honor, lest by reason of our sin or folly we 
should add to the mass of human wreckage 
strewn along the shores of time. 

The world war has multiplied by the million 
the ranks of the vicarious but protesting sufferers 
of the world. Did the people of Belgium or 
Northern France, who were swept by the field- 
gray legions pouring out of Germany, even as 
falling leaves are blown by autumnal winds, — 
did they have anything to say as to whether there 
should or should not be a great war within their 
borders ? And so with all ^the wretched nations 
in Europe or in Asia whose lands have trembled 

'Rom. 14:7. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? .27 

to the tramp of marching millions, to the thunder 
of artillery, to the crash of engines of war! Oh, 
the innocent victims of the last six years ! Who 
can number them as their bones lie rotting in the 
shallow graves of half a thousand battlefields, or 
strewn across the sands of the Syrian desert, or 
forgotten at the bottom of the restless sea ! 

So much for vicariousness in its negative as- 
pects. 

How glorious life may become is not apparent 
until we consider vicariousness on its positive side. 

We have seen that some people suffer under 
protest: they are overtaken by the wicked or 
fools as they move on to destruction, even as the 
fisherman on the rocks sometimes is overtaken 
by the swiftly rising tide. 

But then on the other hand, there is that vast 
multitude, which no man can number, who have 
offered themselves a living sacrifice in the hope 
that, through their labor of love, the innocent 
may be shielded, and the lost may be found and 
saved. 

Let the reader picture a mother and her daugh- 
ter, both utterly broken in health, and one of 
them prematurely brought to the brink of the 



28 Why Do the Good Sufferf 

grave. What has reduced them to this pitiable 
condition? Anxiety for an only son and brother 
whom they have loved with a consuming love. 
When he was a babe his little sister voluntarily 
would sit by his crib hour after hour quietly rock- 
ing her doll, uttering not a sound, lest she should 
disturb the slumber of her angel brother. And 
as the years pass this sister's affection, far from 
cooling, grows greater, and deeper, and more 
sacrificial. 

At last the time comes for this baby boy grown 
to be a youth, to enter college. There he forms 
the wrong kind of friendships, gradually he 
acquires the taste for strong drink, until liquor 
becomes his relentless master, driving him to per- 
dition. Morning after morning he staggers home 
shamefully drunk, only to find his mother sitting 
in an arm chair by the window. And when the 
fumes and fury of the demon of drink have 
given way to reason and penitence, the remorse- 
ful son pleads with his mother not to wear herself 
out on his account, — never again to sit up waiting 
for him to come home. And the broken-hearted 
mother replies with never-failing patience : "My 
son, some one must go to the wall on your ac- 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 29 

count, — why not I? If by sitting up until day- 
break I can bring you home fifteen minutes sooner 
than you would return otherwise, I shall sit up all 
night every night that you are out of the house I" 
Which reminds us of the prophet's cry: 

"How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? 
How shall I cast thee off, Israel?" ^ 

And then from time to time there arises some 
great man who deliberately plunges into a sea of 
trouble, utterly careless of consequences to him- 
self if through his burning words and ceaseless 
effort he may defend a righteous cause, a priceless 
principle, a sovereign ideal. 

Thus all the prophets of Israel suffered vicari- 
ously. Did Isaiah deserve to be sawn asunder 
like a log? Did Jeremiah deserve to be cast Into 
a filthy dungeon, and later did he deserve to be 
dragged into Egypt, there to perish miserably? 
It is only necessary to state the question to know 
how it should be answered. Both men perished 
because the consuming passion of their souls was 
to redeem Israel I What did It matter to Moses, 
Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 

'Hosea 11:8. 



30 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

whether they lived or whether they died, so long 
as through their Ufe and death the people of God 
were assisted to pass from death unto life I 

But the Prince of all vicarious sufferers is Jesus 
of Nazareth. 

"He saved others, Himself He can not save!" ^ 

These words were spoken in derision by the 
chief priests and senseless onlookers surging 
around the cross. But even though they were 
intended to express cutting irony, never has a 
truer saying passed the lips of mortal man. 

Jesus hung from the cross for the simple rea- 
son that the overmastering passion of His mind 
and heart was to save. This passion drove Him 
out of the seclusion and safety of His mountain 
home into the world of strife and hatred. The 
text of His first sermon, preached in the syna- 
gogue of Nazareth at the beginning of His career 
sounded the key-note of His ministry. 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. 
Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to 
the poor; 

*Mark 15:31. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 31 

He has sent me to proclaim release to the cap- 
tives, 
And recovering of sight to the blind, 
To set at liberty them that are bruised, 
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." ^ 

The poor, the captives, the blind, the bruised, — 
these are to be the special objects of His care! 
Repeatedly we hear Him defending His practice 
of associating with publicans and sinners. 

''They that are whole have no need of a phy- 
sician, but they that are sick . . . for I came not 
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." ® 

And thus we see Him going up and down the 
highways and byways of Palestine crying out to 
all who have ears to hear : 

''Come unto me all ye that labour and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" '^ 

But how is Jesus going to save unless He 
speaks the truth? Men are saved through the 
truth. 

"Luke 4:18-19. 
'Luke 5:31. 
'Matt. 11:28. 



32 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

'Te shall know the truth, and the truth shall 
make you free." ^ 

Jesus must speak the truth about God. Who 
is God? 

"God is like us," reply the blind leaders of the 
blind ; a super-scribe, a Pharisee raised to the nth 
power. He is seated on a throne above the 
heavens, and mortal man can do nothing with 
Him except through priest and sacrifice. He 
thinks so much of the sacred law that He spends 
six hours out of every twenty-four meditating 
upon it. He keeps a sharp lookout to make sure 
that His people do not overlook any of the minute 
requirements of the Talmud. Such is God ! 

"Not so!" says Jesus. God is the infinite, 
heavenly Father, whose moral nature is expressed 
in perfect holiness and perfect love. Holy love 
can not fail to discharge its sacred obligations. 
Therefore God is in honor bound to meet the 
need of those whom He has created in His own 
image. The attitude of the father in the parable 
of the prodigal son, of the shepherd in the par- 
able of the lost sheep, of the housewife in the 

'John 8:32. 



Why Do the Good Suferf 33 

parable of the lost coin, reveals the heart of the 
Eternal as He looks down in compassion upon 
weak, erring, sinful humanity. He is touched 
with the feeling of our infirmities. Therefore, 
even as an earthly parent gives bread to his 
hungry children, so God is ready to impart Him- 
self and every perfect gift to whomsoever calls 
upon His Holy Name.^ 

How can Jesus save unless He speaks the truth 
about man? Who is man? 

*'Man is a worm !" reply the Scribes and Phari- 
sees with mock humility. 

"Not so!" says Jesus. Man is the child of 
God, made in the image of the Father, immeas- 
urably exalted abqve every other creature 
through the gift of mind and conscience. He 
comes from God, and he is going to God. Even 
in the publicans and sinners, buried under the 
filth of sin, is the divine spark which may be blown 
into a flame of consuming righteousness when 
played upon by the Holy Spirit. The lost coin 
has not lost its value. The image and superscrip- 
tion of the King are stamped upon it. If found 
it can be restored to circulation. God's purpose 

'Luke II :i2. 



34 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

is to find that which is lost. Therefore His Spirit 
moves over the vast chaos of sin, reclaiming, re- 
freshing, redeeming, restoring. 

How can Jesus save unless He tells the truth 
about religion? What is religion? 

"Religion," reply the Scribes and Pharisees, 
"consists in the faithful observance of the sacred 
law; it consists of feasts, fasts, sacrifices and pil- 
grimages; it finds its deepest satisfaction in 
ceremonial purity, in the keeping of the Sabbath, 
in the repetition of long prayers, preferably in 
public places, in the wearing of philacteries, and 
in exploring the mysteries of mint, and anise, and 
cummin." 

"Not so !" says Jesus. Religion is the realiza- 
tion of the presence of God in the believer's soul, 
and the consistent effort to organize one's life in 
harmony with the divine Will.^^ Pure and unde- 
filed religion is concerned not with tradition and 
precedent, but with principles. Truth, justice, 
mercy, — service, sacrifice, faith, — loyalty, hope, 
courage, — ^^these are some of the foundation 
stones upon which rests the life that is hid with 
Christ in God. 

"Matt. 7:31. 



Why Do the Good Stiff erf 35 

How is Jesus going to save unless He tells the 
truth concerning the fate of the soul? 

"If a man die, shall he live again?" 

"Yes," reply the Pharisees, "in the nether 
world, — ^that dark, shadowy place, where man 
forever mourns the earthly life left behind." 

"Nothing of the sort," reply the Sadducees, 
poking fun at the very idea by inventing a hypo- 
thetical case in which the same woman marries 
seven brothers in succession as fast as the pre- 
ceding one is dead and buried, — only to ask with 
a sneer, "And now in the resurrection, whose 
wife shall she be?" 

"Yes," calmly and confidently asserts the Lord 
Jesus. "Have ye not read that which was spoken 
unto you by God, saying: 'I am the God of 
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of 
the living!" ^^ Abraham has quitted this life 
centuries ago, and yet God speaks of him as if he 
were living, for the simple reason that Abraham, 
and all who have passed out of the temporal 
order are living somewhere in the Father's house. 
If those who leave us are extinguished as a candle 

**Mark 12:26-27. 



36 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

by the wind, then God presides over a vast ceme- 
tery filled with the bones and broken hopes of 
countless generations. Which is unthinkable I 
Therefore, "in my Father's house are many man- 
sions," enough to hold the vast throngs pouring 
out of time into eternity. If it were not so, the 
truth loving, the gentlemanly Jesus would have 
told us I 12 

PS:.: - . _ 

God of the living, in whose eyes 

Unveiled Thy whole creation lies. 

All souls are thine : we must not say 

That those are dead who pass away; 

From this our world of flesh set free. 

We know them living unto Thee. 

Released from earthly toil and strife, 

With Thee is hidden still their life; 

Thine are their thoughts, their works, their 

powers. 
All Thine, and yet most truly ours; 
For well we know, where'er they be, 
Our dead are living unto Thee. 

Not spilt like water on the ground, 

Not wrapped in dreamless sleep profound, 

"John 14:3-3. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 37 

Not wandering In unknown despair 
Beyond Thy voice, Thine arm, Thy care; 
Not left to lie like fallen tree: 
Not dead, but living unto Thee. 

Thy word is true. Thy will is just; 
To Thee we leave them. Lord, in trust; 
And bless Thee for the love which gave 
Thy Son to fill a human grave. 
That none might fear that world to see, 
Where all are living unto Thee.^^ 

In this quiet manner the Prophet of Nazareth 
went about speaking the truth by which men were 
to pass, as through a door, into the presence of 
their Heavenly Father. And there could be but 
one ending to this glorious mission, for there is 
something in the truth which stirs the very Devil 
in the hearts of men. 

As the regularly accredited religious teachers 
of Israel witnessed the marvelous power wielded 
by the Carpenter upon the common people; as 
they heard them remark with feeling: "He 
speaks with authority and not as the Scribes"; ^^ 

"J. Ellerton, 1871. 
"Matt. 7:29. 



38 JVhy Do the Good Suffer? 

as they saw His gospel slowly undermining 
their ancient institutions, (the temple, the 
priesthood, the sacrifice, — covered as they were 
with the moss of tradition, and the poison-ivy 
of superstition) , institutions which they, in their 
blindness, conceived as perfect and final, they 
were filled with rage. Their religious fanaticism 
was kindled to white heat. In the name of the 
God of their fathers, and for His greater glory, 
the voice of this unauthorized itinerant preacher 
must be silenced in death ! 

"Then were gathered together the chief 
priests, and the elders of the people, unto the 
court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas; 
and they took counsel together that they might 
take Jesus by subtlety and kill him." ^^ 

There could be but one ending to the Master's 
mission. Jesus did not deceive Himself into sup- 
posing that He would escape the lot of the 
prophets who had preceded Him. Therefore it 
was not long after the opening of His public min- 
istry before He began to tell His friends that if 
they would be His disciples they must take up 

"Matt. 26:3-4. 



Why Do the Good Sufferf 39 

their crosses daily and follow him.^^ For who- 
soever starts out to save his life inevitably loses 
it, and whosoever deliberately throws away his 
life in the interest of a glorious cause ends by 
finding it. And certainly, it will profit a man 
nothing if he should gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul ; and what can a man get out of 
the material order that can ever take the place of 
a life glowing with the power and love of God.^"^ 
The harvest comes because the seed in the ground 
is reabsorbed in the bosom of mother nature. So, 
unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and 
die it abideth alone. ^^ 

It was not long before Jesus found occasion 
to rebuke Peter for suggesting a policy of safety 
first.^^ The Son of Man sets His face stead- 
fastly toward Jerusalem, knowing full well what 
awaits him there. ^^ Jerusalem for Jesus stands 
for fearless proclamation of God's character and 
program, for strife, misrepresentation, insult, 
false accusation, arrest, mock trial, condemnation, 

"Luke 9:23. 
"Matt. 16:24-26. 
''John 12:24. 
"Mark 8:33. 
^"Luke 9:51. 



40 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

torture, ridicule, — ^^the cross on Calvary. But 
what does it matter to Him, the Chief among ten 
thousand! 

''And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto myself." ^^ 



Never in the tragic history of this old world of 
ours were the ranks of the willing, eager, vicari- 
ous sufferers augmented by such vast numbers as 
during the years of the world war. Literally mil- 
lions of men and women, from the highest to the 
lowest, took the stand that it did not matter what 
might happen to them, — they might be torpedoed 
on the high seas and drowned like rats, they might 
be blown to bits by high explosives, they might be 
mutilated, or blinded, they might rot in the 
trenches and dug-outs of Flanders, they might 
perish from heat, or cold, or hunger, or thirst, — 
it did not matter what happened to them, so long 
as the spiritual heritage, and priceless rights of 
mankind were, through their sacrifices, preserved 
and vindicated for all time. 

On a gloomy afternoon in January, 191 8, the 

**John 12:3 a. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? ^i 

very day after Paris had passed through a mur- 
derous aeroplane raid in which scores of innocent 
folk had been killed or maimed, the writer hap- 
pened to stroll into the vestibule of the Sorbonne. 
The walls of that great hall are covered with 
thousands of cards, each card four inches square, 
each card recording the deeds of some professor, 
or instructor, or graduate, or student of that great 
college who has perished on the battlefields of 
Europe that France may live. 

*'They saved others, themselves they could not 
save." 

It is said that Oxford alone has lost during the 
world war, twenty thousand men who at some 
time or other have been identified with the col- 
leges of that centre of learning. And much the 
same proportion holds good for all other British 
universities. 



"They saved others, themselves they could not 



save 



n 



During the terrific fighting of 191 6 around 
Verdun a French oflicer spied an old woman wan- 
dering aimlessly In No Man's Land. A corporal's 



42 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

guard was sent out to arrest her. The petty 
officer demanded to know why she was breaking 
the stringent regulation against civilians ventur- 
ing into the fighting zone. The old woman ex- 
plained that at the beginning of the war she had 
seven sons, that six of them had fallen in battle 
at various times, and that she had just received 
word that her seventh and youngest had been 
killed at Verdun. She had come in the vain hope 
of locating his grave. 

Instantly the corporal commanded his men to 
present arms. And the peasant woman, waving 
her right hand over her head, cried out : 

^'Vivela France !'' 

Now we understand why it is that the best 
suffer most. It is because they are more alive to 
the Issues of life, because they are more respon- 
sive to the summons of duty, and to the appeal 
of honor. With them, Noblesse Oblige. They 
are spiritually akin to the disciples of old, who 
having been cast into dark dungeons, beaten with 
many rods, and threatened with dire conse- 
quences should they ever dare to proclaim again 
the name of Jesus, went home ^'rejoicing that they 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 43 

had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for 
that Name.22 

Why do the good suffer? 

In order that their honesty, sincerity, disinter- 
estedness may be established beyond question; 
they suffer that they may pass from goodness to 
perfection; they suffer that the moral law may be 
exalted; they suffer since man is moving from 
ignorance and foolishness into knowledge and 
wisdom, paying as he goes; they suffer because 
life is vicarious both negatively and positively. 
For all these reasons good men suffer. 

"Acts 5:41. 



IV 



But does this analysis exhaust the subject? Is 
the question answered in full? Do not things 
happen for which there is no explanation? Does 
not the time come when he who, like Job's com- 
forters, attempts to explain why calamity after 
calamity overtakes the innocent, runs the risk of 
insulting the intelligence and outraging the con- 
science of him who sits on the ash heap of his 
hopes? 

Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, 
and Zophar the Naamite came to comfort Job in 
his unutterable grief. And when they lifted up 
their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they raised 
their voices in lamentation,' and wept. "And they 
rent every one his robe, and sprinkled dust upon 
their heads toward heaven. So they sat down 
with him upon the ground seven days and seven 
nights, and none spake a word unto him ; for they 
saw that his grief was very great." ^ 

*Job 3:12-13. 

44 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 45 

So long as these three men remained silent 
their consolations were effective. What a pity 
that they ever opened their mouths to speak! 

Things happen which seem to proclaim that the 
universe is ruled by malignant spirits. 

In the city of Florence, hard by the Santa 
Trinita bridge, resting on a massive base, rises a 
great granite column, surmounted by an heroic 
and gilded statue of Justice, holding a sword in 
its right hand, and a pair of scales in its left. 
The statue is nearly fifty feet from the pavement. 

About the middle of the last century a proud 
and wealthy lady lived in an apartment nearly 
opposite this monument. She was the envied 
possessor of a priceless collection of jewels, and 
her dearest ornament was a string of faultless 
pearls. 

One morning the great lady was sitting by her 
dressing table, and her maid was by her side 
assisting. her to dress. The glittering jewels were 
scattered on the table, which stood by an open 
window through which poured a flood of sun- 
shine. Her toilet completed, the lady went out 
for her morning ride, leaving her maid, whom she 
implicitly trusted, to lock up the precious gems. 



46 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

That evening the proud matron called for her 
string of pearls. She was going to a great social 
function, and she proposed to shine among her 
peers. But the necklace was missing. Every 
nook and corner of the apartment was searched in 
vain. The stones were nowhere to be found. 

Of course the police was called in. Of course 
the maid-in-waiting was accused of the theft. No 
other human being had been there from the time 
the lady had gone for her morning ride until her 
return, and the pearls were lying on the dressing 
table when she left the room. Who else could 
have taken them? Circumstantial evidence made 
all this quite clear. 

Of course the maid passionately protested her 
innocence, and of course she was arrested, tried, 
convicted, sentenced to a term of years at hard 
labor; and, when finally released, thrown out on 
the street to eke out a miserable existence, 
despised and disgraced. 

Years came and went. Florence continued to 
live its usual life of joy and sorrow, happiness 
and misery. At last the municipality decided that 
it was time to regild the heroic statue of Justice 
towering above the ancient city by the Arno. The 



Why Do the Good Suferf 47 

scaffolding was erected, the workmen climbed to 
its summit, and began to remove the dust and 
filth of a hundred years. 

And what did they find? In one of the deep 
plates of the scales held aloft by the symbol of 
Justice, were the remains of a large bird's nest, 
and hidden among the debris rested the stolen 
string of pearls. But the innocent and falsely 
accused servant was dead of want and a broken 
heart, and it was beyond the power of accuser, 
police, judge, jury, and prosecuting attorney to 
atone for their frightful blunder. How could 
they know that certain birds are fascinated by 
the glitter of jewels? and how could they guess 
that one such bird had made off with the missing 
string of pearls to use as a foundation for its 
nest? 

However, the heroic statue of Justice, with its 
sword and its scales, was regilded, so that it 
might impressively continue to proclaim the 
legend that law and fair play rule among men. 
But what would have been the thoughts of that 
statue, should it have been miraculously endowed 
with intelligence and conscience, as it kept on 
looking down upon the great city with its throb- 



48 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

bing and tragic life ! Is it not true that in the 
name of justice, religion, morals, and every other 
virtue known and practiced in Heaven, some 
great wrongs have been, and still are daily, com- 
mitted down here upon earth? 

Things happen for which no explanation is 
possible. The time comes in the lives of some 
good men when they are face to face with the 
infinite mystery of life. 

Jesus reached that point. As He looked down 
from the cross on the sneering Pharisees, and 
heard the insulting jeers of the demented crowd 
whom He had lived to serve and bless, the dark 
impenetrable clouds of doubt closed down upon 
His mind, and, out of the darkness He cried out 
unto heaven, ''My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken Me?"^ 

That cry is a solemn and heart-breaking indict- 
ment of the providential order. What can be 
said in favor of a universe which allows Jesus of 
Nazareth to be crucified between two thieves! 

What shall we do when we are face to face 
with the infinite mystery of life? 

Exactly what Jesus did. All His life, from the 

^Mark 14:34. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 49 

days of His boyhood as He "Increased in wisdom 
and in stature, and in favor with God and with 
man/' ^ in the days of His youth, when He 
laboured in the village carpenter's shop, remain- 
ing obedient and subject to His earthly parents;* 
all through the years of His manhood, whether 
tempted in the wilderness or confronted by men's 
needs, He walked by faith. ^ Hence it is not sur- 
prising that the moment of despair on Golgotha 
soon was over. The habit of a lifetime reas- 
serted itself even during the agony and shame of 
the cross. With His last breath we hear Him 
murmur : 

"Father, into thy hands I commend my 
Spirit.** « 



The book of Job closes with a mighty appeal 
to walk by faith. When the heated, and imper- 
fect arguments of the disputants are ended, and 
the baffling question. Why do the good suffer? is 

^Luke 2:52. 
*Luke 2:51. 
"Matt. 4:4. 
"Luke 23:46. 



50 Why Do the Good Suffer? 

only partially answered, the anonymous author of 
the sacred drama ushers Jehovah upon the stage 
to speak for Himself. 

But does the Eternal argue? On the contrary, 
He causeth the universe, as it were, to pass in 
review before this broken man whose soul is so 
full of protest and despair. The treasures of the 
hills and fields, of the rivers and the sea ; the mar- 
velous creatures which roam above and beneath 
the earth; the wonders of the heavens, — sun, 
moon, and stars, — the Pleiades, Orion, and the 
Milky Way, — all these move majestically before 
Job, proclaiming that everlasting goodness and 
perfect harmony reign supreme at the heart of 
the Eternal. "^ 

It is at this point that the climax of the book 
of Job is reached. The disfigured and distracted 
leper is suddenly overwhelmed by the realization 
that his Hfe is still in the Divine keeping. Lifting 
his hands to the calm and serene heavens above 
him, he utters the triumphant cry of faith : 

'*I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; 
But now mine eye seeth thee." ^ 

'Job 34:41. 
*Job 42:5. 



Why Do the Good Suffer? 51 

And so with us. When the black clouds of 
grief close down upon us and we are face to face 
with the infinite mystery of life, and our well- 
meaning friends distract us by their vain chatter, 
we will walk by faith in the Eternal Goodness. 

Never shall we surrender our reason. We will 
follow it as far as it can lead us, and as long as 
it lasts. But when reason fails, — standing on its 
uttermost edge, we shall take the long leap in the 
dark, we shall stretch, 

*'lame hands of faith," 

and grope for the hem of God's garment, we shall 
ask the ancient question which admits of a single 
answer: 

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do 
right?" » 

"Gen. 18:25. 



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